Click Here to Read: “When My Child Should Meet Her Birth Parents” by Kerry Kelly Novick on the AnnArbor.com website on April 6, 2010.
I would like to remind members of Kerry Kelly Novick’s column on AnnArbor.com, “Everyday Parenting Questions for Kerry.” Her current entry, “When My Child Should Meet Her Birth Parents” is about when an adopted child should meet his or her birth parents. Dr. Novick’s column is not only erudite advice for parents, but it is also a fantastic example of how psychoanalysts can use our unique perspective to reach beyond the couch.
Dr. Novick is not simply giving advice, she is teaching the public about powerful psychodynamic concepts in simple terms. The mother asking when her 8-year-old adopted daughter should meet her birth parents gets much more than an
answer. She gets an extremely thoughtful response about the many dynamics at play along with a discussion of the “family romance” and how many children have fantasies about having come from another family.
I encourage all members not only to read columns like Dr. Norick’s, but to use them as inspiration to write columns/articles/letters to the editor of your own. You have a unique perspective that can add much more than the 7-second sound bites currently in the media that basically tell the public nothing.
All the best,
Will Braun
William H. Braun, Psy.D.
Co-Chair, Committee on Public Information
American Psychoanalytic Association